Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Felix P. (“Phil”) Caruthers was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. (ca. 1915) and took an early interest in
radio, constructing his own transmitter at age nine. He continued this interest, obtaining an
advanced-class amateur license. After graduating Princeton University (BSEE 1938) Caruthers
joined EBASCO Services, specializing in long-distance high-voltage utility systems.

After Pearl Harbor, Caruthers enrolled in a course at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute specializing
in radio wave analysis and “pulse techniques” which predated radar. When the instructor was
called to a government assignment, Caruthers took over his place and completed the course. He
then volunteered in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to a program under Sperry Gyroscope Co.
which was developing night fighter aircraft and radar. Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant,
Caruthers was put in charge of all plants producing this equipment. Later, he was assigned to
work on antennas and other components of radar equipment.

On his return to civilian life, Caruthers joined Thomson Equipment Co. as vice president and
chief engineer, producing precision machined products and metal toys. Later, the firm’s output
shifted to machine tools, which Thomson not only manufactured but also designed, introducing
new concepts of machine control.

In 1968 Caruthers organized Caruthers & Associates, Inc., consultants to various industrial firms,
and also served as Director of Engineering of Industrial Control Equipment for the Bendix
Corporation.

Scope & Content

This collection consists largely of bound copies of technical manuals, providing information on
automatic machine control equipment, including its operation, servicing and parts. The papers
include technical reports and notes; schematics for specific inventions including diagrams,
graphs, photographs and plans bound together; patents and related correspondence; operators'
manuals; copies of papers delivered by Caruthers at engineering events; and assorted trade
literature. Published materials include a book co-authored by Caruthers. A partial
personal
history of F. P. Caruthers is included together with his hand-written notebooks.

Provenance

This collection was presented to the National Museum of American History by
F. P. Caruthers in
1984. It was transferred to the Archives Center in 2002.

Container List

Box

Folder

1

1

“Automatic Machine Control: A Five Generation History of Numerical Control
Systems as Conceived and Developed by Felix Porter Caruthers (a.k.a. Phil
Caruthers) by Caruthers & Associates, Inc., Three Rivers, CA 93271, February
22, 1984 (bound volume)